14 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY*. 



require all the room, the dwarfs which had rooted from the pear 

 were transplanted to other situations, and were found to be amply 

 supplied with fibrous roots, without any tap root whatever. In 

 this way a large proportion of his trees were made. Where varie- 

 ties like the Bartlett, Doyenne Boussock, and Belle Lucrative 

 send out roots from one side only, they still make fine standards 

 when they get well established. In regard to the durability of 

 trees on quince roots, Mr. Wilder said that he had some which, 

 though not rooted from the pear, were more than thirty years old, 

 among which were Urbanistes that each bore regularly more than 

 a barrel a 3^ear. 



MEETING FOR DISCUSSION. 



Saturday, January 24, 1874. 



The subject for discussion was " Horticultural Prizes," opened 

 by Charles M. Hovey, who produced the manuscript of a report 

 made by him in 1845, as member of a committee to consider the 

 expediency of substituting medals for money prizes. The report 

 was in favor of awarding medals, and it had been a matter of 

 much gratification to him that the first gold medal awarded was to 

 Gen. Dearborn, for his services to the society. The subject was 

 one on which there is a variety of opinions, and in which he had 

 always felt a deep interest. Mr. Hovey spoke of the importance 

 of liberal premiums in the arts, and said that the question for us is 

 whether our prizes are sufficiently large. At the exhibition at 

 Bath, England, in June, 1873, the amount of prizes offered was 

 £1,312, more than our whole annual prize list; and the highest 

 prize for a collection of plants was £20, yet there was only one 

 competitor. Our exhibitions of plants are increasing in import- 

 ance, and while our prizes for fruits are sufficiently large — 

 larger than those of the London Horticultural Society, — he 

 thought the prizes for flowers should be increased in consideration 

 of the 3'^ears of labor spent in producing specimen plants, and the 

 danger of injury by bringing in to exhibition. He thought it 

 could not be expected that amateurs would receive the leading 



